Two New York State School Districts File Federal Funding Discrimination Claims

Late last month, the Schenectady City School District and the Middletown City School District each filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Litigation claiming that New York State’s current education funding system discriminates again African American and Latino Students. The complaints, brought under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the federal Equal Educational Opportunity Act, allege that the substantial cuts in education funding that the state has imposed since the 2008 recession have a disparate impact on school districts such as theirs which have large numbers of minority students and English Language learners. The districts allege that the neediest school districts are receiving a much smaller percentage of the Foundation Aid they were promised in 2007 than affluent districts. Out of almost 700 school districts in New York, 138 districts are receiving 100 percent or more of the Foundation Aid they were promised, while 155 districts, including the complainants, are receiving less than 70 percent of the Foundation Aid they were promised.